Tag Archive for Tabatas

6 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain and a Paleo Cookie Recipe

debbieThree emails this weekend about Holiday Weight Gain are prompting a Post.  Don’t Diet In December; don’t despair if you’ve gained a few pounds since Halloween; don’t “throw in the towel and restart in January”; and don’t kill yourself with extra hard workouts.

All that stuff would be SHORT TERM THINKING, and short term thinking never produces good Long Term Results.

What should you do instead?  CHILL.  Honestly.  It’s the holidays and we’ve all got about 50 extra things on our to-do lists.  Stressing about it = CORTISOL, which = WEIGHT GAIN and ILLNESS ( come January or sooner).

In addition to all our “extras”, is the assumption we’ll eat more just because it’s the holidays; constant indulgence = CORTISOL + INSULIN, which = WEIGHT GAIN AND ILLNESS ( come January, or sooner).

Blood sugar becomes a complete mess, and the impulse to soothe stress with food or alcohol feels irresistible.  Here’s what to do instead-

1) SUPPLEMENTS and FOOD for Stress and Blood Sugar Control:  Fish oil/Omega 3s ( you don’t need the 6’s or 9’s, you already get enough); Cinnamon/Ginger/Turmeric ( blood sugar and inflammation from Cortisol);  B Vitamins and Magnesium  ( critical when stressed!!); Probiotics ( stress and sugar destroy the good bacteria in our gut).

2) When the going gets tough, strive to make the best choices possible.  Extra food, extra alcohol, or skipping too many workouts NEVER ever makes us feel better, ever.  There’s always mental and physical regret from that.   Going to a party? Bring a vegetable dish so you know there’s at least one item you can eat.  Limit your alcohol to just 1 drink, and don’t make it a sugary one ( alcohol = liquid doughnuts!).  Going out to a holiday dinner?  Set your mind ahead of time that you’re ordering Meat and Vegetables.  Look forward to it, think about how good you’ll feel the next morning.

3) If you’ve blown it several times since Halloween, GET OVER IT. Regret and worry keep us living in the past, doing the wrong things over and over.  Yesterday is gone, tomorrow’s not here, FOCUS ON TODAY.  Make healthy choices today.  The mindset of blowing-it/punishment diets MAKES US FAT AND SICK.

4) Exercise as often as possible, but be realistic this month.  Can’t make it to the gym for an hour long class or lift?  Do 100 push-ups at home.  Do wall squats.  Do Tabata’s – they’ll kick your butt in 4 minutes!  Walk at lunch for 15 minutes.  It’s important to move, but weight loss and weight control is really all about the food we put in our mouths and the hormone response that food causes.

5) Feel too busy to cook this month?  Think and plan ahead so that you’re not tempted by Fast Food. Buy frozen vegetables, they’re just as nutrient filled as fresh and sometimes MORE nutrient filled than fresh; or buy already cut-up veggies.   Throw burger patties, chicken breasts, or a roast in a crock pot with a little water.  Make sure you have plenty of butter/olive oil and shredded cheese in your house.  Buy the already prepared meatballs/kabobs/fish from the Butcher. Boil a dozen eggs to keep in the fridge.  Make sure you have string cheese, fresh fruit, and carrots and celery available.  Nut butters and nuts are also easy and quick.  Cook big batches of food on the weekends; and keep a running grocery list handy.

6) Read this Post on Diets and Mindset.

In other words, despite the Holiday Season’s extra demand’s, we don’t have to Gain Weight, Get Sick, or Go Crazy.  It’s all about planning and mindset.

Lastly, here’s a recipe from my Paleo Christmas Party that’s going to be a Holiday Tradition at our house:  Pecan Pie Cookies.   DELICIOUS!!  My picky/suspicious eater (Shelby) loved them, and so did everyone else.

 

Exercise for Weight Loss, and Is Swimming A Good Exercise?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI have great reader question today, it’s about exercise:

” After your exercise post I realized I was doing little to no resistance training. My current regiment is swimming 4 days per week(I do intervals and definitely get breathless and use the kick board a lot to get that “burn” especially in my legs), also I do intermediate yoga classes on my own at home. We also walk/hike outdoors when the weather is nice.

We are also in a remote place so it is hard for me to find exercise classes….any suggestion of good videos I could do at home to add some resistance/lifting to my exercise routine? Or should I try and lift-weight myself at the gym? Any tweaks you have are also welcome “o) “

I’m glad to address this question, because Exercise Is Important, for a million reasons. Here’s my answer: Any and all exercise is absolutely better than NO exercise. Our body is meant to move; as a matter of fact, interesting studies have been coming out in the past few years on the DANGERS OF SITTING AND INACTIVITY. Apparently, INACTIVITY is possibly a greater/as great a risk factor for disease and mortality as SMOKING!

That said, if you want to build a shapely, muscular, firm body, you’ve GOT to Resistance Train. Ladies, Men, there’s just no getting around this. I’m not saying you have to join a gym, and spend an hour several days a week pumping iron ( although this has AMAZING results for your body), but you do need to stress your muscles – with either body weight or external weight – to (1) tear down your muscle cells, so (2) they can “re-build” (hypertrophy) a little bigger; and you need to do this at least 2 or 3 times a week, for at least several minutes.

Ladies, getting “too muscular” is fairly impossible. We absolutely, positively, DON’T have the testosterone to put on heavy muscle; and to LOOK muscular, we’d also need to be INCREDIBLY lean, usually under 15%, but often under 10%. (That takes a long, consistent “diet” effort that I’d never endorse.)

Men, pay attention: You should be prioritizing lifting over cardio/golf/yoga; I’m not saying NOT to do any of those activities, but lifting stimulates Testosterone and Growth Hormone; cardio/golf/yoga don’t. Ladies, we want Testosterone and Growth Hormone too; they’re the hormones of YOUTH, and we all naturally produce less as we age, EXCEPT IF WE RESISTANCE TRAIN.

What about Swimming specifically? Swimming’s a GREAT exercise, especially if you LOVE it, and also if you have joint issues. There’s no “joint-loading” or “bone-strain” when you swim, also, and obviously, you don’t get hot.
And there-in lies some of the problems with swimming: these “benefits” actually cause a DECREASE in BONE DENSITY; and FEMALE SWIMMERS TEND TO HAVE MORE BODY FAT THAN ALL OTHER ATHLETES.

The Bone-Loss CAUSED by swimming is a BIG DEAL. To me ( admittedly, I don’t love swimming laps), it would be a deal breaker – we need our bone density!

That all said, WEIGHT LOSS IS DEFINITELY ABOUT EATING – NOT EXERCISE. HOWEVER…… the more MUSCLE we have, and the BIGGER and MORE ACTIVE our muscle cells are, losing weight, or maintaining a healthy weight is MUCH MUCH MUCH easier.

Everyone: We Need Muscle. It’s important, it’s critical, and it should be a big focus of our total health program. (Not THE only focus; like I said, there’s a million reasons to exercise.)

Again, all forms of exercise are wonderful, including swimming; do whatever you love and feel comfortable with. Just make sure you’re throwing in some kind of Resistance Training a few times a week.

What about Exercising on a High Fat/Low Carb diet, how’s that? Fantastic! ( The whole “Carb Loading” theory, or Fueling Your Workout With Carbs, is totally 1980’s.) We have study after study now verifying the performance of High Fat/Low Carb athlete’s from every sport, and the studies are showing excellent results. As a matter of fact, after an initial dip in performance due to the body switching from “sugar burning” to “fat burning”, … Muscle glycogen stores were maintained after a 5-wk high-fat diet period ..Endurance performance capacity was maintained at moderate to high-exercise intensities with a significantly larger contribution of lipids to total energy turnover.”

Do you understand what that last sentence means? After 5 weeks on a High Fat/Low Carb diet, the body burns “significantly” MORE fats than glucose during exercise. This is something I try to get across to my clients: eat a big bowl of oatmeal or an English Muffin before your workout, and your body will mostly use those carbs for fuel. Live on a High CARB diet, and your body constantly burns SUGAR. When Sugar/Glucose is in the blood stream in excess, FAT BURNING DOESN’T HAPPEN. We want to burn the fat in our butt/thighs/stomach, right?

Back to the question, some general suggestions: (1) Join a Gym. Gyms have (1) Kid Care, (2) professional trainers to TEACH you and Guide you through your workouts, (3) assorted classes that guide you through workouts, and resistance training ( of one kind or another ) is more often than not included in classes, (4) a positive and fun atmosphere that ALWAYS makes you feel good when you’re done.
(Yes, I’m a Gym Rat!) ( and I work at a BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL gym in Warrenton, Va: Old Town Athletic Club.)
********Please don’t be intimidated by Gyms; No One Is Judging You – I Swear. ******** One more piece of Gym advice, join one that’s CONVENIENT to you, that means near either your work or your home. Make the commitment and then go!

And specific suggestion ( I live in a remote area..): Youtube, DVDs, and Apps. Have you ever looked at BodyRock on YouTube? They have hundreds of free HITT workouts (high intensity interval training), there’s several yoga channels, and lifting workouts. CollageVideo has HUNDREDS of great videos on lifting/HITT/step/yoga you can buy. I use an App on my phone for Tabata Intervals ( that’s a 4 minute workout divided into 20 second intervals). There’s several Tabata ideas on YouTube.

Whatever you choose today, whether it’s the gym, hiking, or a DVD in your living room, just like with eating, make a Plan, and commit to the plan. It’s important. And be careful to avoid the mindset that any exercise you do is somehow Virtuous! It’s not! It’s just exercise. You don’t deserve a Treat for brushing your teeth, eating your vegetables, doing the laundry, cooking dinner, or working out. They’re all just Action Steps that are necessary and good for us and make our life better.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

“Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.” Golda Meir

Tire Out Your Kids – Make Them Do Tabata’s With You!

Right now I’m sitting in my house watching a snowfall that’s supposed to bring 6″ in 6 hours.  For most of us Virginians, that means life comes to a halt, or at least slows down.  I know, I know, for all you New Englanders and Westerners, we’re a joke. I lived in Aspen from 91 to 93, so I get it.  Still, this is what happens here!

This is to all my fellow moms, who won’t be going to the gym today and taking my class, or anyone’s class; and to everyone I won’t be training today:  a Workout to do At Home:)

If you have little kiddos around you, demanding your attention, they’ll enjoy this.  Maybe it’ll head standmake them so tired they’ll take a nap this afternoon, or at least go to bed earlier tonight.  ( Not that us moms count the hours til bedtime……)

tabata timer Install or download a Tabata Timer app on your phone.  Turn the volume all the way up.  You’ll get an Interval timer that will give you 10 seconds to get ready, then for the next 4 minutes, you’ll get a whistle that blows after 20 seconds, and then 10 seconds.    I use this in class all the time, but I also use this at home.  It’s awesome!

Here’s 2 workouts, do one or do both, depending on time and (kid) demand :

jumping jacks for 20 seconds  ( bad bladders, pee before hand)

squat and hold for 10 seconds,   do this for the whole 4 minutes

********

mountain climb for 20 seconds

rest for the 10 seconds

jump squat for 20 seconds

rest for the 10 seconds,  keep repeating for 4 minutes

Here’s my biggest piece of advice for today:  Don’t give in to  (regrettable) desires to pig-out.  Remember the Mantra of the week:  “I think Long Term.”  Stay away from crackers, ice cream, and Christmas cookies. Better yet, if you have these, throw them in the trash and pour dish soap on them. No one needs them.  Focus on eating good fats, good proteins, and tons of vegetables and fruits.; use the day to cook casseroles or meals that you can freeze/store/eat later.

If you do Fall Off The Wagon, GET BACK ON THE WAGON.  One or two slips-ups aren’t as bad as a full day of slip-ups.  Really there’s nothing that can’t be fixed or undone.  Positive thoughts, positive actions.  I’m off to workout!